re: Cam Cameron gets paid $600k 1st yr $1.3M 2nd, $1.5M 3rd

I assume that the first "year" is based on some kind of 6/30 fiscal yr., otherwise it is very odd. If not a fiscal year adjustment, does CC and/ or LSU have some sort of option at the end of yr.1, which creates thepay disparity? It's just odd.

Is the "annual" salary keyed to calendar years or to football season years? The article says "for the 2013 season". When does the 2013 season begin? Is he here for less than a full season? Or does what he's getting paid by Baltimore have some impact?

I went back and read the story, which no doubt is verbatim what the LSU press release says (since it's on the LSU website), which, in turn, was certainly carefully crafted by University legal. It says, "a three-year contract that will initially pay him $600,000 for the 2013 season..." It goes on to say that he "will earn $1.3 million in his second year and $1.5 million for the final year of the contract, which runs through the 2015 season." That wording isn't random. It switches back and forth among "initially..for...2013", "in" his second year, and "for" the final year...through the 2015 season". The wording suggests that the $600 thousand isn't everything he's getting in respect of the first season, and that the $1.3 million "in his second year" (not season) isn't necessarily all earmarked for the 2014 season. I suspect that they are spreading the total amount around in a way that best fits LSU budgetary parameters and CC's personal financial parameters.

quote:That contract feels like it was structured for a guy that might not stay long....

How so? I feel the complete opposite. Pay him more in the future when he is more likely to leave.

Plus, he's already been to the top. NFL Head Coach and years as a NFL OC. Why not stay and do something you may emjoy more with a good friend of yours. I'm sure he can live off of $1.5 million a year if he wants to stay longer.

quote:Well my guess as to why it says "initially" for this year would be incentive clauses.

Yeah. I thought about that, too. But I'm not sure it makes sense to have incentive clauses in year 1 that don't also show up in years 2 and 3. Or if the incentives in the later 2 years are proportional, then the disparity between 1 and 2 is still too great. My bet is that they're just structuring a total package in a way that works best for both parties. Maybe CC is getting a big payout from Baltimore and wants to defer some of the LSU salary into 2014 (and got a little bump for pushing it back). Or maybe LSU didn't want to hit their 2013 budget with the full amount. Or some of both. Just speculating, of course, but I'm not sure the incentive explanation holds up.